Fernando Díaz (footballer): Difference between revisions

'''Fernando Díaz Seguel''' (born December 27, 1961) is a [[Chile]]an football manager and a former goalkeeper. He is known for winning [[Primera División Chilena 2005|2005 Apertura]] with [[Unión Española]] and for reaching the semifinals of the [[Primera División Chilena 2008|2008 Apertura]] with [[Ñublense]]. Also, he is a coach with a career with several successes and achievements, in addition to being president of the coaches of Chile, a member of the technical committee of Conmebol in South American Sub 17 Chile, sports director of USEK, sports manager and teacher of INAF, among other activities.

== Player's Career ==

After studying physics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, he decided to dedicate himself to football. As a player, he started in the minor divisions of the Union Española, where he entered in 1976. Finally, he passed to the minor divisions of Universidad Católica, where he was formed from 1977 to 1980, year in which he made his debut as a professional. In that stage as goalkeeper, he integrated the teams of Universidad Católica, champion of the 1984 and 1987 national tournament. In addition to the crossover team, he was in Colchagua (first B finalist 1982), Curicó Unido, Deportes Iberia, Antofagasta and Deportes Ovalle, with several returns to UC, where he shared the goalkeeper position with Marco Cornes or Patricio Toledo. Finally, Universidad Católica was the club of his retirement in 1992.

== Soccer Coaching Career ==

After years of preparation in different courses, he started as a coach in the minor divisions of the Universidad Católica.

He continued his career as a technical assistant to Manuel Pellegrini in Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (LDU), where they won the Ecuatorian championship in 1999, and participated in two Copa Libertadores de América tournaments. In addition, he was in charge of training, participating in the growth process of LDU.

In 2003, he had a successful experience at Universidad de Concepción, a club that was making its debut in the First Division, recruiting several young players that he observed in the lower divisions who immediately stood out, and who later became figures in Chilean football, such as Jorge Valdivia, Jean Beausejour, Luis Pedro Figueroa and Andrés Oroz, among others. In that year's Clausura Tournament, they had an excellent campaign, reaching the semi-finals, being eliminated by Colo-Colo and obtaining first place in the accumulated table of the 2003 season, therefore qualifying for the 2004 Copa Libertadores.

The following year, under the technical direction of Fernando Díaz, Cobreloa reached the runners-up spot in the Apertura 2004 National Tournament, losing out on penalties to Universidad de Chile in the final at the Calama Municipal Stadium. In this championship, Cobreloa was first in the overall table.

In 2005 he led Unión Española, where, after a hesitant start, his team showed Diaz's concepts and paradigms, such as order, ball possession, conversion and offensive volume. Therefore, they finally finished first in their group at Apertura 2005 National Tournament, qualifying for the play-offs, where Unión Española eliminated Universidad de Chile in the quarterfinals and eliminated Universidad Católica in the semifinals.  In the final, his team faced Coquimbo Unido. In the first leg, on July 3 at the Santa Laura Stadium, the score was 1 to 0 in favor of the home team. The result of the second leg, played on July 9 at the Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso Stadium, was 3 to 2 in favor of Unión Española. This allowed Unión Espanola to become champions again after 28 long years and participate in the Copa Libertadores de America after 12 years.

At the beginning of 2006 he leads Cobresal, only for the Opening Championship, since due to his daughter's illness he must return to Santiago.

In 2008, he took over the Ñublense bench, finishing the regular season as the leader of the Apertura, thus qualifying for the South American Cup for the first and only time, and playing the championship semifinal, eliminated by Colo-Colo, all historical milestones of the Chillán club, baptized in that campaign as the "''Longaniza Mecánica''". After this international participation with Ñublense, Fernando Díaz moves away from its technical direction after the Apertura 2009.

In 2013 he takes on another international challenge, after a brief stint at the Universidad Católica from Ecuador, this time at the popular Municipal of Guatemala. This traditional club, the most successful in Central America, was in the worst crisis in its history, finishing last in the standings for the 2013 Clausura, with only two points from the first round and at serious risk of descent.  “''Nano”'' lifted the team out of the danger zone and underwent a major overhaul, with 15 new players in the run-up to the 2013 Apertura, giving them results and Municipal once again appearing in the leading positions, finishing first alongside Comunicaciones, the arch-rivals of "''los rojos''". In the campaign, they are undefeated at home, recording the best defense in the competition and the team with the fewest defeats in the tournament (4). Also, after seven games and three years, they won the “''El Clásico Chapin”'' against “''Los Cremas''” of Comunicaciones. Then, in the group stage, they reach the semi-finals, losing the first leg against Heredia 3-0 and drawing 1 in the return.

He took steps through San Marcos de Arica and then returned to Ñublense in 2015 and 2016. At the club in Chillán, despite a good campaign, in the final stretch, the team lost key points and could not achieve promotion.

On July 20, 2017, he returned to the club with which he won a national championship after almost 30 years, Unión Española, but this time as sports manager. Union Espanola is leading the championship with only 3 dates left, but ended up losing the title against Colo-Colo.

A project was structured which included deep changes in formative divisions, football schools and recruitment of formative and professional players.

In November 2018, he took over as coach of Union Espanola, after the departure of Argentinean coach Martin Palermo due to a low season, when Union Espanola had not been in international cup qualifying positions for several dates.

Diaz assumes the technical direction of Union Espanola, makes several changes in the starting line-up and achieves to qualify for the South American Cup, the main objective of the club, adding another club that Diaz manages to take to an international cup. In 2019 the team is restructured, with a budget restriction imposed by the president of the club, Santiago Perdiguero, who determines that Union Española will be one of the cheapest teams in the National Tournament of First A. However, Diaz contributes to a competitive, albeit small, squad, including many young players from the club's youth ranks, including U-17 players.

The results come quickly and surprisingly. In the South American Cup, they eliminated Muchuc Ruma, Ecuadorian rival at the height of Ambato, in a penalty shootout, improving the club's performances in the last six years in this cup. They are eliminated by Sporting Cristal from Peru.

In the national championship, from the second date they enter the qualifying zone for the South American Cup, achieving six consecutive victories, which Union Espanola had not achieved since 1993 and reaching the top of the table for some dates. The first-round ends in third place, in the classification zone for the Copa Libertadores.

The start of the second round, coinciding with several injuries and the departure of some players, including Ezequiel Palomeque, central starting, has a bad streak of results, including ties with a couple of teams of the B, which forced to define their classification on penalties, achieving win on penalties, qualifying for the quarterfinals of Copa Chile. This bad streak started the second round causing their departure, after the defeat with O'Higgins, in the only occasion that Union Espanola was out of the qualifying zone to South American Cup, just one point away from the goal. Finally, Diaz finishes his way as DT of Union Espanola.

In addition to the championships with Union Espanola and LDU Quito, Fernando Diaz has been characterized by qualifying different clubs for international cups:

* To Copa Libertadores : LDU Quito (1999); Universidad de Concepción (2003); Cobreloa (2004); and Unión Española (2005).

* To Concacaf Cup: Municipal (2013)

* To South American Cup: Ñublense (2008) and Union Espanola (2018)

== Teams ==

=== As a Player: ===

{| class="wikitable"

|'''Club'''

|'''Country'''

|'''Year'''

|-

|Universidad Católica

|Chile

|1978 − 1982

|-

|Deportes Colchagua

|Chile

|1982

|-

|Curicó Unido

|Chile

|1983

|-

|Universidad Católica

|Chile

|1984 − 1985

|-

|Iberia

|Chile

|1985

|-

|Universidad Católica

|Chile

|1986

|-

|Deportes Antofagasta

|Chile

|1986

|-

|Universidad Católica

|Chile

|1987 − 1990

|-

|Deportes Ovalle

|Chile

|1991

|-

|Universidad Católica

|Chile

|1992

|}

=== As a Soccer Coach ===

{| class="wikitable"

|'''Club'''

|'''Country'''

|'''Year'''

|'''Highlights'''

|-

|Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito

|Ecuador

|1999-2000

|'''Champion'''  qualifies for Copa Libertadores

|-

|Puerto Montt

|Chile

|2001

|

|-

|Universidad de Concepción

|Chile

|2003

|Qualifies for Copa Libertadores

|-

|Cobreloa

|Chile

|2004

|Sub Champion

|-

|Unión Española

|Chile

|2005

|'''Champion'''  qualifies for Copa Libertadores

|-

|Cobresal

|Chile

|2006

|

|-

|Antofagasta

|Chile

|2007

|

|-

|Ñublense

|Chile

|2008-2009

|Qualifies for Copa Sudamericana

|-

|Universidad Católica de Ecuador

|Ecuador

|2010

|

|-

|Santiago Morning

|Chile

|2010

|Wins promotion league

|-

|Universidad de Concepción

|Chile

|2012

|

|-

|Municipal

|Guatemala

|2013

|Qualifies for Copa CONFACAF

|-

|San Marcos de Arica

|Chile

|2014

|

|-

|Ñublense

|Chile

|2015-2016

|

|-

|Unión Española

|Chile

|2018-2019

|Qualifies for Copa Sudamericana

|}

== Awards ==

'''As a Player'''

{| class="wikitable"

|'''Title'''

|'''Club'''

|'''Country'''

|'''Year'''

|-

|Primera División de Chile

|Universidad Católica

|Chile

|1984

|-

|Primera División de Chile

|Universidad Católica

|Chile

|1987

|}

'''As a Soccer Coach'''

{| class="wikitable"

|'''Title'''

|'''Club'''

|'''Country'''

|'''Año'''

|-

|Serie A de Ecuador

|Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito

|Ecuador

|1999

|-

|Primera División de Chile

|[[Unión Española]]

|Chile

|2005-A

|}

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